Chapter 2
We have arrived in England. Our ship docked in Portsmouth this morning and we made the seven hour carriage journey to Devon soon after that. We could have taken the train, of course, but our kind relatives decided that they wanted us to see England 'in the way it should be seen'. I glanced at my brothers during our journey and could tell that they, like me, wished we were back in Africa.
We reached Sevenacres (our Aunt and Uncle's country mansion) shortly after six o'clock in the evening. It is an immense house and estate, with acres and acres of parkland and a beach nearby. But it seems so alien, so strange to the three of us. We dressed in our best clothes this morning. We are not in mourning dress anymore, as it has been more or less six months since the deaths of our parents. My brothers wore suits, whilst I wore a green and dusky pink dress, one of the only dresses I owned. In Africa, my parents allowed me to run around with my brothers, in boy's clothing. We all knew that our aunt, uncle and cousins would not like our attire, but the clothes we were wearing were the best sets of clothes we had.
The three of us got out of the carriage and knocked on the large front door. A butler answered and took us into the lounge, where our relatives were waiting for us. Although they greeted us politely enough, I could tell that they did not approve of us. My aunt came forward and tested the fabric on the sleeve of my dress between her fingers. "Well," she said "This is not the sort of thing you can wear in London". She motioned to my cousins, Katherine and Mary. "The girls will give you some of the dresses they do not wear anymore". The girls smiled at me and nodded. They looked unsettlingly like identical twins, those two, with the same lavender eyes, pink, round faces, and ringlets of blonde hair. As I had been taught to, I curtseyed to my aunt, and thanked her for her kindness. My uncle stepped forward "You will travel to London tomorrow on the two o'clock train and will be met by your godfather. Pack up a trunk of dresses and anything else you require." I nodded and followed my cousins up the stairs.
My cousins seemed very nice girls. They asked me about Africa, and gave me dresses for walking, everyday and parties, as well as riding. They also gave me a couple of capes and some shoes. The butler took a now full trunk downstairs. However, among the dresses, I had managed to sneak a couple of sets of men's clothing - just in case.
That evening, we sat together to eat dinner. The food seemed stodgy and hard. The table was laden down with food, most of which would be left over as waste at the end of the meal. I felt a flash of anger at that. In Africa, we had seen villages full of starving people, starving children. The waste from the table would have fed one of these villages for a week. I saw John's eyes widen at the sight of the food on the table. We had been used to a diet of fruit, what we called 'wild meat' (snake, goat or such) and bread. We had never eaten any of the desserts placed in front of us or meats like beef and venison. We all ate much less than our hosts.
After dinner, we all went back into the lounge, where Katherine and Mary set about trying to teach me embroidery. It was not an easy task, but in the end, I managed to produce a rather shaky, but I thought, quite recognisable picture of a horse. Paul teased me, saying that it looked more like an elephant. My aunt and cousins gasped, as if fearing that I should burst into tears at such criticism, but I laughed, saying that my horse looked did not look as much like an elephant as Paul did.
Next, Katherine stepped up to the piano, to play some Mozart. My aunt, obviously believing us to all be ignorant of music, and not knowing what a piano was explained the way in which the instrument worked. Paul quickly informed her that we had all been taught to play the piano by our mother, at which our aunt sank back into her chair, looking rather put out. After Katherine had finished playing our aunt asked (our maybe challenged would be a better word) us all to play. After we produced some fairly accomplished Beethoven, Handel and Bach, as well as some of the new, fashionable which was all the rage in London, she allowed us to sit down. The rest of the night passed quite quietly, and in the end, we all made our ways to our bedrooms.
In the morning, we had another awfully indulgent meal (I just had fruit), and I went to pack my last belongings. After lunch, my uncle and brothers took me to the local station to wait for the train. As it pulled in, my uncle put my trunk onto the train and I suddenly felt a little frightened. I hugged both of my brothers and got onto the train, although the skirt of my dress did almost get in the way of that endeavour.
As I waved to my brothers and the station moved out of sight, I realised how alone I felt. I decided to be brave, got out my book, and began to read.